Queensryche

DANA JACOBS - OAKLAND, OR - MARCH 2022

PATRICK DRONEY CREATES THE PERFECT SOUNDTRACK TO LIFE

“I don’t really ever remember saying, ‘This is what I want to do.’ It’s just kind of like, this is what I’m doing.”

Now at the age of 29, he has quite a lineup of accomplishments. From sharing the stage at just 12 years old with the musical genius of B.B. King and James Brown to his headlining tours and playing prominent music festivals like Bonnaroo and Austin City Limits. In 2019 he released his debut self-titled EP, where his single “High Hope” gained so much traction, that it was featured on season 16 of the TV show “Grey’s Anatomy.”

Success was brewing for Droney, but then the Coronavirus hit. The pandemic, like it did with many others, shifted his mindset. With live shows gone, Droney needed to find a way to connect with his audience like never before, leading to a deep dive and reevaluation of what his purpose was in music.

That’s where State of the Heart comes in. A debut album that “became this house that I was building and a safe space.” Each piece so intimately created, with the idea of a bigger connection in mind, the idea of the human condition, to get everyone through a foreign time.

While built intimately, the producer and songwriter in him couldn’t help but create such unique and sonically built spaces. One thing about Droney is that he is a true storyteller in music, captivating and transporting his listeners to a different world in each track.

“Because songs are fossils. I’m an archeologist. I’m just in the room and when I find them and dust them off I’m just glad it picked me,” he said. “There really is no science to this. This is like divine stuff. It really feels that way when you’re making it.”

If you were to ask the singer if he considers himself “pop” he would say yes, but he does want to redefine that narrative.

“There’s so much pop music and it’s the same exact kind of song or whatever,” he said. “Whereas if you go back in time, the 90s or the 80s, it’s wider. It’s just popular music. I hope that we get back to that place a little bit.”

For Droney, his music is “exploding colors of everything that I feel and see.” Although the album has been in the process of being made over the last five years, it’s his official beginning. The story of who Patrick Droney is now.

“I feel like I’m starting somewhere and I have something to crusade for.”

Living in New York, Los Angeles, and now Nashville has definitely had an influence on his music. Different environments and memories in each place yet still the same for everyone.

In his title track “State of the Heart” he says, “But who the hell are we? / Wandering around in this big city / Acting like we got our lives together / Trying to find ourselves in the letters of dead poets,” creating such a specific thought we have all had of the unknown and trying to find ourselves learning from others. Such specific lyricism truly highlights the connection we all have.

“This is my time to just make my little stamp on the world,” Droney said. “All these songs are little vignettes of my actual life; but I really found [that] the more specific I get as a writer, the more universal things are, which is crazy.”

State of the Heart is a body of work that takes you through every emotion. It encompasses the true, authentic feeling of life in every form. From momentous ballads on the wonders of life in “Talk About That,” to

heavy grief in “Glitter.” Of course, the feelings of love arise in hopeful tracks like “Yours in the Morning” and “River,” as well as heartbreak in slow yet soulful singles like “The Wire.”

State of the Heart is Droney’s soundtrack to life. A connection so strong you become the main character alongside him acting as a narrator. Each track is so raw and immersive, further proving Droney’s boundaryshaking, one-of-a-kind artistry.

Droney mentions the fact that in the end, the album is still a product for consumption. Despite the fact, it’s a piece of art so unparalleled, made with every effort and emotion available.

“I read this poem by [Pablo] Neruda called ‘October Fullness’ and it starts and it says, ‘Little by little but also in great leaps, life happened to me,’ ” he said. “And I just started weeping, like why am I so sad? Oh, because this is an accumulation of my whole life to get to this moment and this thing, and that kid who is Even two days before the deadline, Droney was still working, the poem inspiring the wondrous “Little by Little,” knowing the pieces had fallen into place.

“It’s just so personalized but you have to let it go,” he said. “It’s just an odd thing, but a beautiful thing.”

Now on tour, Droney feels the universal connection more than ever. A moment he wasn’t sure he’d have again during the pandemic.

“It’s almost exhausting because it’s like way more emotional, but that conversation with these crowds, that’s what I meant by being different [on] this record,” he said. “What’s happened in this time it’s like, ‘Oh, we’ve both seen some stuff and we’re here together and the veil is lifted.’ We are just raw.”

A full-circle moment of the human condition.